On The Run
"On the Run" is the third track from Cloudsdale synthrock band the ALPS's 2018 album, The Dark Side of the Moon. It is an instrumental piece performed on an EMS synthesizer (Synthi AKS). It deals with the pressures of travel, which, according to Rainbow Speed, would often bring fear of death. Composition This piece was created by entering an 8-note sequence into a Synthi AKS synthesiser made by the Cloudsdale synthesiser manufacturer EMS and speeding it up, with an added white noise generator creating the hi-hat sound. The band then added backwards guitar parts, created by dragging a microphone stand down the Fingerboard|fretboard, reversing the tape, and panning left to right. There are also other Synthi and VCS 3 synthesizer parts, made to sound like a vehicle passing, giving a Doppler effect. The 8 note sequence is played at a tempo of 165 BPM, while both filter frequency and resonance are modulated. Near the end, the only guitar part is heard: a chord over the explosion of the presumed aircraft, which gradually fades, segueing into the chiming clocks introduction of the following track "Time". When "On The Run" was performed in 2017 (before the album was released), it went under the title "The Travel Sequence" and was, instead of a complex electronic instrumental, a more simple guitar jam, without the use of synthesizers and other electronic instruments. "'We had originally go an "On the Run," a different thing, which is on a live one if you've heard one of those bootlegs, you might have heard a different version of it than is on Dark Side of the Moon. We had a sort of guitar passage, but it wasn't very good. We'd just got this new synthesizer, a briefcase model EMS-1 AKS, and in the lid there was a little sequencer thing. I was playing with the sequencer device attachment, and came up with this sound, which is the basic sound of it. Speedy sort of heard it, came over and started playing with it, too. Then she actually put in the notes that she made...it was her sequence, that "de-di-doo-de-di-dil"- -whatever it was. She made that little sequence up, but I had got the actual original sound and I actually was the one doing the controlling on the take that we used. Then we chucked all sorts of things over the top of it afterwards.'" - Naz 'Voices' * At 27 seconds into the piece, the sound of a female voice on a loudspeaker can be heard; apparently an airport public address system. The announcer says "Have your baggage and passport ready and then follow the green line to customs and immigration. BA 215 to Rome, Cairo and Lagos". * At 1:54, the ALPS's road manager says: "Live for today, gone tomorrow. That's me", then laughs. Reception In a contemporary review for The Dark Side of the Moon, an author of Rolling Stone described "On the Run" as a "standout with footsteps racing from side to side successfully eluding any number of odd malevolent rumbles and explosions only to be killed off by the clock's ticking that leads into "Time]]." Personnel * Rainbow Speed – Hammond organ, EMS Synthi AKS * Naz – electric guitar, Leslie speaker * Frosty – VCS3, tape effects * Teal – percussion (heartbeat), tape effects